The authors use ordinary least squares regression to determine the factors associated with the use of multiple abuse techniques against targets who reported abuse. The data for this analysis come from the 1985 Physical Violence in American Families, Third ICPSR Release. The authors' findings suggest that assaults on women occur within a context of unequal power relationships. Different types of assault appear to occur in a context of unequal means of economic survival. Women who are able to at least equalize their occupational prestige with their partner suffer fewer types of abuse than women whose prestige is lower than their partner's and women from lower socioeconomic households.
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